I built my first gasified using FEMA instructions and various articles, videos, etc. It has a 6” burn tube 21” long. It will make smoke all day long but won’t light. I’m using a 12v squirrel cage fan with a variable speed control, but no matter what I do…no joy. If I hold a torch near the gas outlet, it turns the flame orange, but it won’t light off.
Little help? Ideas? Suggestions? Number of a good scrap dealer to haul this thing away?
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Drawings and or pictures would help us help you.
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How do I upload pics on this forum? Not seeing a way.
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Tell it you don’t want it to light. And tell it you HOPE it doesn’t light.
Mine never does what I want it to do. So I use reverse psychology
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Rick, welcome to the forum! I hope you don’t plan to hook up that FEMA to an engine. They’re infamous for being tar machines.
As for the flare problems, it could be you’re not pulling hard enough on it, squirrel cage fans aren’t that strong. It could also be you don’t have enough oxygen mixed in at the flare point to sustain combustion.
Also to add pictures, if you’re on your PC then you can drag and drop images into the text box when you go to start a new message.
On mobile, you start a message and down in the bottom right corner there’s a symbol of a rectangle and an arrow pointing up. From there you select a picture to upload. Hope that helps!
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I’ll shoot some more pics tomorrow.
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Maybe try something like this:
I just used a big juice can with some holes to help mix the fuel and air. I’m not sure the holes were necessary since the back was open and just set over the outlet pipe. Sometimes I can get a flame directly from the outlet pipe but usually it won’t stay lit without something to mix the fuel and air.
I originally tried a FEMA type gasifier but got a lot of tar. Then I went to a simple fire charcoal gasifier (plans available) and now use a downdraft charcoal gasifier. I have mixed some raw wood in the downdraft gasifier and it run my generator but I ended up sticking the intake valve with tar so I went back to charcoal only.
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Welcome Rick. FEMA is a government agency. There was your first clue. Here is the second. 
No need for the scrap yard. Totally salvageable. Don’t mind me. I’m just a crabby old man.
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More pics today. I already figured out the FEMA is not a good way to go in the long run. BUT…it’s now a vendetta to get this running correctly. After that I’ll modify it to be an inbert style.
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So after reading everything I can find, you think air leaks can cause it?
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Judging from the tar stains, it looks like you have some leaks in the welds.
I like to test my welds by blowing air through the system and spraying soapy water to see if it’s making bubbles.
It’s pretty difficult to do airtight welds in one pass.
Also that filter box probably doesn’t seal 100%, is that a toolbox?
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Thanks. I saw the same tar leak trails and was wondering how much leakage the system would tolerate. I like the soapy water idea. I’ll figure out how to plug up all the holes that are supposed to be there and track down all leaks. I’ll rig up an inlet for my air compressor and pressurize it a little.
What could possibly go wrong?
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It doesn’t need too much pressure, you could just blow that squirrel cage fan through the top and it should work. Plug the outlet with a rag.
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My first gasifier was a similar size and design to yours. Mine to was not able to sustain a flame, but there was definitely some wood gas in it.
None of my welds were water tested and at the time I was using a cheap welder with flux core wire, so I am sure there are air leaks all over on mine.
I would definitely say air leaks is the biggest problem.
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Hi Rick,
I see you using scrap from an old water heater? That funnel shaped piece welded to the fire tube is a good way to do it. You are well on your way.
Here’s another way to put a tank back together. Also you get pry points you can use to take it apart again if needed.
Rindert
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If you are planning to run a small engine or generator under 500 cc. You are better off building a charcoal gasifier. A wood gasifier this small is just not going to flow very well and you constantly be battling tar then you start the journy re inventing it until you eventually arrive at building a charcoal unit. Skip all that and just build a simple charcoal unit.
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